Ball-retainer.



S. SCHNEIDER.

BALL RETAINER.

APPLICATION FILED Amzu. I917 1 134L669. Patented Oct. 2,1917.

' punched out TENT- FFICE.

STEFAN SCHNEIDER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BALL-RETAINER.

LZtliMStit).

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 2, 1917.

Application tiled April 28, 1917. Serial No. 165,088.

1'0 alt wiwmzt may concern,

it known that I, lil'rnran Scusmocn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago. in the county of Cool; and State of Illinois. have invented certain new and useful improvements in Ball-.ltctaincrs, oE which. the following is a specification.

My invention relates to ball retainers and has tor-its primary object tho'provision of an improved ball retaining cage which shall have improved means for permitting play of the balls in a ball race. while prm'iding also means for handling the balls in their retainer as a single unit.

A. further objcct of the invention is the provision. of a ball retainer which shall be adaptable to ball races of greatly varying dimensions by the insertion or witlulrawal of one or more balls with their individual retaining structures.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a ball. retainer wherein each ball is held in an individual pocket the pockets being loosely secured together to nrovide a linked relation between them.

@ther objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification and illustrate the preferred embodiment of my invention.

In the drawings Figure. 1 an end elevation ct my invention SllOWiIlP the same positioned in a ball race adapted to receive an and thrust.

Fig. 2 is a section substantially on line be? of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an end'elovation of a modified form of my inventiom showing in section the inner and outer annuli of an ordinary ring her raceway.

4; is a section taken approximately on line l-4 of Fig. 3 and omitting the race-- way elements.

lieference numerals indicates one. of the annuli of an end thrust. bearing raceway, 11 being the opposin annulus.

lathe. construction of my invention 1 pro-- i "la a plurality of ball pockets generally inat A, each being formed. f two cuys 12 positioned with their concavitics opposite each other to receive the ball 13, each of these cups having its bottom to permitongagcment between the ball and the annuli of the raceway. The cups oi? each pocket are substantially ovalescent in shape and are provided at opposite ends with anticlinul arms ll which are torn gitutilinally slotted as at. to permit arcuate play oi the entire pocket with respect to the :uljaccnt IlOtlitlS. l rclerably the arms 14 of one pockct overlap the outer sides of the juxtaposed arms of the adjacent po ket, all of the slots if) of the tour overlapping arms being alincd and loosely cu gagci'l by rivet lti, the heads 17 ot which are of sullicicnt diameter to retain the arms upon the rivet while at the same. tinic permitting the play oi the rivet through the length o'l the slots. he bottoms of the cups 12 are cutaway a sullicicnt distance to permit considerable play of the ball within the pocket while still retaining, the ball from displacement. The shortest diameter (it each pocket is likewise sulliciontly larger than the ball to permit axial play of the ball with respect to the bearing to an extent indicated in a dot and dash line mnnbcrcd 1.8 in Fig. 1.

in the modification illustrated in Fig. 3 the pockets are altered in shape to permit the ball to protrude lfrom the inner and outer sides of the retainer instead 01'' from the ends thereof, as best illustrated in Fig. 3. The end. play of the balls, however, is provided for as illustrated by a dotted line 19 Fig. at, the other elements of the retainer being substantially the same in construction as that heicirmbove described.

In the. use of my invention it will be seen that because oi the ovalescent shape of each pocket the ball retained in that. pocket is permitted a large degree of play which adapts the ball to take up wear in the boariug and to seek that point in the worn bearing, where its anti-frictiomil function is needed. If the retainer is used in an end thrust bearing, as in Figs. 1 and 2, the play of the ball is axially of the axis of the bearing while in the case of an ordinary ring bearing, as in Figs. 3 and. 4, the play of the ball is radially of the axis of the hearing. In case a ballrace becomes so worn that balls not in a retainer would continually drop to the bottom of tho raceway, it will be seen that the linked construction of my retainer permits a shrinkage in the arc of the retainer permitting the balls to travel through a circle of shorter radius than they did when the raceway was new, this :liunction being the result of the use oil the elongated slots in the arms 14:.

As a stander machine. part my invention ispeeuliarly adapted inasmuch as it may be sold in any desired size. way of small radius is to be fitted a given number of my improved ball pockets are linked together by means of rivets '16, While a raceway of greater dimension may be fitted by merely increasing the number of pockets linked together into one retainer.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be obvious that one skilled in the art may construct modifications thereof without departing from the spirit of the invention. I wish, therefore, not to be re stricted to the precise embodiment shown except in. so far as the same is limited in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a ball retainer the combination With a pocket comprising two bottomless cups having their coneavities opposed and each provided with arms having elongated slots in register of a plurality of similar pockets forming an annulus, and rivets loosely engaging the registering slots of adjacent pocket arms.

2. In a ball retainer the combination With a pocket comprising two bottomless cups having their eoncavities opposed and each provided with anticlinal arms having elongated slots in register of a plurality of similar pockets forming an annulus, rivets loosely engaging the reigstering slots of ad Thus, if a raeenee-wee jacent pocket arms, and bearing nails loosely retained in said pockets.

3. In a ball retainer the combination with a pocket comprising two bottomless cups having their concavities opposed and each provided with antielinal arms having elem gated slots in register of a plurality of similar pockets forming an annulus, rivets loosely engaging the registering slots of adjacent pocket arms, and bearing balls loosely retained in said pockets, the bottoms of said cups being cut away to permit play of the balls through a path greater in length than the original ball space in a raceway.

4:. A ball retainer comprising an annulus formed of linked. ball retaining elements,

said elements having arcuate play With respect to each other about the axis of the STEFAN SCHNEIDER. 

